You guys aren't thinking out of the box today. Any type of marking can wear off/be removed. Not to mention that they don't work for blind climbers. Personally, I cover all my gear in deer urine. It makes it really easy to identify my gear....it's the stuff that smells like pee.

I just use a Brother label maker and print out my last name. Everyone knows which gear is mine that way. The tape sticks to the metal like glue and doesn't come off except for abrasions. Even then, the rest of the tape remains attached.

You guys aren't thinking out of the box today. Any type of marking can wear off/be removed. Not to mention that they don't work for blind climbers. Personally, I cover all my gear in deer urine. It makes it really easy to identify my gear....it's the stuff that smells like pee.

why not use deer scat? That way you can use color and smell for your gear

My friend got me some of that "The Mark" stuff from Boulder Based Designs. I reccomend it. It seems a bit weird to put expoxy on it, but I've put some moderate abuse on the gear since it was applied and it isn't even scratched.

i had some of the metolius tags. those are good about not leaving residue, but they get torn up very easiliy. have some of the trango tags, but haven't used them yet. i have a buddy who got some of that heat shrink tubing and they've held up pretty well. and i've seen hot pink spray paint work real well too, hehe.

You guys aren't thinking out of the box today. Any type of marking can wear off/be removed. Not to mention that they don't work for blind climbers. Personally, I cover all my gear in deer urine. It makes it really easy to identify my gear....it's the stuff that smells like pee.

why not use deer scat? That way you can use color and smell for your gear

I use a small can of ugly dark green paint for metal I got at Canadian Tire years back. 50 cent sponge brushes work well for applying it. I goober my gear. The uglier it is, the less likely it is to attract the wron kind of attention. It's held up pretty well. The gear I pre-cleaned with some alcohol has never needed to be re-marked.

well, having just come back from the Creek last week, where co-mingling racks is a certainty, i finally got around to putting on a layer of spray-paint. I tried to keep it to the triggers and cables for the most part with the smaller gear, though the C4's sizes 3 and up got a nice little spot near the axle housing that should stick around for a few years or more.

in the past, I'd relied on tape, but having seen how quickly it wears off I'd lost confidence in that system.

Now that my partner's off in AK climbing some stuff in the Gorge, I'm having to slut myself out, which means I can't just rely on a trusted friend. It's so much easier when you don't even have to worry about getting the gear sorted out right-proper like.

The spray-paint should make it much easier to climb with fellow un-partnered climbing-sluts without having to worry about catching something.

I've been using Vector. It is a PVC tape, much like electrical tape but with a different adhesive that does not leave tacky residue, and will actually harden, so I'm told.

tapes usualy need to be replaced about once every 2 years, which is good for me.

On a side note, its been a while, and I'm just getting back into climbing after a 2 year gap, but I'm kind of surprised at some of the answers I'm seeing here. using a punch to mark your biners? sorry friend, but you will put a stress riser in to gear, thats why all the load specs are with RAISED lettering. And spray paint? or epoxy? you do know that these products will release chemicals for days, if not weeks? if you do use these methods, keep it way from slings and draws.. other wise its like keeping a rope on a concrete floor

I use electrical Heat-Shrink tubing and write on it with a Sharpie. Holds up OK. No goo from the tape. Can get lots of different sizes. On the ends of my ropes/cordalette I mark the ropes rating and shrink the stuff on. The heat may slightly damage the end but who cares. You don't climb on that 1" of rope!